Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 30, 2005
Never Satisfied

Bud Selig wants tougher penalties for drug abuse. Despite the fact that the players have already conceeded to reopening the CBA, and that testing seems to be working, Selig appears to be bending to Congressional pressure. I thought baseball owners owned the politicians.

Selig is blowing a chance to extend the cooperation between players and management. This is clearly a ploy to make the players look like the bad guys if they refuse the deal. It's too bad. I thought some trust had been developed between the parties. This has a potential to drive a wedge between the two sides once again.

I do agree on the amphetamine ban, however. If Selig had just asked for that in the context of the current testing, I'd support that. But this is going too far. As I've written before, the chance of a false positive is too high to have that harsh a penalty for a first offense.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:02 PM | Commissioner | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Gotta agree with you David, Bud's just trying to make himself look good.

Posted by: Jason at April 30, 2005 10:24 PM

Just because Congress got involved with this steroid issue (though WHY noone knows), now the commissioner has gone over board! Where were these STRICT penalties when players like Darryl Strawberry and others were repeatedly suspended and fined for drug use? Get reasonable and consistent.

Posted by: Pat at May 1, 2005 12:05 AM

Yeah, I absolutely agree with you. This is getting ridiculous. To begin with, amphetamines are a much bigger problem than anabolic steroids, in my opinion. They should have been dealt with first, anyhow. Second, it's just not right to have penalties that are that harsh for first time offenders. Bud is just up to his old games of using every opportunity he can to try and break the union. It's really despicable. And congress needs to just butt out, and get back to real business, like maybe reforming the federal drug laws...

Posted by: Adam at May 1, 2005 03:26 AM

baseball players are bad bad people. remember that these people do things like spit and grab they privates OPENLY!!! it's important to break the union and go back to paying them slave wages because the owners are barely keeping afloat and then when we treat the players like the drug addicted scum they are, why ticket prices will drop right back to where they were 30 years ago.

who do those players think they are? why, ANYONE can run right out there and play baseball - and do it for FREE. and without drugs. just pound that budwiser...

besides, SOMETHING must be wrong with the testing if they only catching alex sanchez type players, right?????

what could POSSIBLY be more important for congress to do right now than Think About Our Children!!!!! there is no unemployment, poverty, crime, wars, budget deficit or anything like that they need to deal with first when there is the Sacred Home Run Record to think about !!!

Posted by: lisa gray at May 1, 2005 08:40 AM

Don't you think Bud is trying to drive a wedge within the union, between the leadership and rank-and-file? At least, that's how most experts are analyzing this development.

Posted by: tannhauser at May 1, 2005 10:40 AM

Tannhauser,

That could very well be true. However, I believe the players will only be pushed so far. They cooperated to get tougher testing. The union leaders will now go to the players and say, "See, we gave them an inch, and they want to take a yard. We can't trust them."

Again, Bud had a golden opportunity to build trust and he failed to take advantage of it.

Posted by: David Pinto at May 1, 2005 10:57 AM

Well, ya know, it was this or Olympic style testing and bans. Congress kissed the NFL's overweight juiced up behind and ripped baseball a new one. I'm pretty sure that like half a team or something was found to be juiced in the NFL. Didn't hear Congress screaming then.

Posted by: Steve M at May 1, 2005 12:29 PM

It would be real interesting to see baseball played without amphetamines.

Posted by: RobertJ at May 1, 2005 02:25 PM

Selig has had a bad habit for years of trying out something complex, and then being completely unable to wait long enough to get a good read on whether it works.

Sometimes he argues, like now, a month later that whatever it is should be srengthened or made a permanent part of the game.

Sometimes, he argues that it's not having much effect and some other idea of the moment must be also implemented, and right now.

No wonder the Brewers were no good for 20 years.

Posted by: foo at May 1, 2005 04:50 PM

I gotta say I hope the union tells Selig to go to hell on this one. This issue is worth striking over. This issue is worth losing 1 or more whole seasons of play. This is a do or die issue for the players and for any American who cares about privacy or civil liberty. If my bosses tried a policy like this at my job, I'd strike too. What a crock. With any luck the union will walk out tomorrow. If I were a baseball player I'd be on the phone to Fehr and to my team rep asking for a strike vote immediately.

Posted by: Bob at May 2, 2005 08:19 AM
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